Forest of the Ignarok
by doctorwhomaniac96
Summary: The Doctor and Jack land on the planet Elfin in the year 2179 where a scientific project is taking place to find suitable planets for humans to inhabit. But there's trouble in the forest and its awakening to attack them... Number 3 of 13


**Author's notes**

Woo third story can't wait I love writing this series. I believe this is a sort of filler story because it's possibly the only one that doesn't really have anything to do with the finale that I've worked out, if I keep on schedule, will be posted on Christmas Eve, Obliviousrose's birthday (happy birthday for then). Anyway so here's my third story, please enjoy, read and review as I've said constructive criticism is always welcome.

**Forest of the Ignarok**

**Chapter 1: Scream**

Elfin, 21st October 2179, 4:06 pm. Katrina Mills burst out of the tent she was sleeping in, a satchel bag over her shoulder and across her front. She ran up to a quite short, middle-aged looking woman with fading blonde hair. "Helen!" she shouted while running "you wanted me?"

"Oh yes Katrina, I've got a job for you," Helen replied authoritatively "we need to do a few more tests before we can conclude if this planet is inhabitable for humans or not."  
>"Right," Katrina replied intrigued "what would my job be then?"<p>

"Take these," Helen said, passing Katrina a case.

Katrina opened it and saw it contained test tubes, bungs, numerous injection needles along with many other tools. "What's all these for?" Katrina asked confused.

"We need to check what minerals are in the ground and we feel the safest way to do this is to take sap samples from different trees in this forest and check what minerals the trees have taken up," Helen exclaimed.

"Right gotcha," Katrina excitedly answered.

A few moments of silence passed. "Katrina," Helen glared.

"Yes…" Katrina smiled.

"Don't just stand there," Helen yelled "I want you to collect the sap of 10 trees in this forest, make sure there not close together now get going!"

"Oh sorry," Katrina sang excitedly whilst running into the midst of the forest. Despite being shouted at by Helen she was still happy and bubbly. She knew she was a bit ditzy so it didn't bother her when she got told off as she was used to it.

A few minutes later she chose a tree and pulled a paint brush out of her satchel bag with the case in it. She dipped it in red paint and painted a number 1 on the tree, so she and her colleagues knew which tree was which. She, out of the case, got a test tube, a marker pen and one of the injection needles.

She stuck the needle point on a weak point of the tree trunk and pressed as hard as she could without breaking the needle. After much effort the needle finally started to sink into the trunk. Without further ado, Katrina pulled back the syringe and watched as the thick, green and yellowy substance slowly filled the tube.

Once it was full she pulled the needle out and started filling the test tube with the sap. Once all the sap was in the test tube, Katrina popped the lid off of the marker pen and marked a number 1 on it, so she knew which test tube went with which tree.

Suddenly from behind her she heard a snapping sound of a branch or twig. She shot round as it made her jump. However she couldn't see anything at all, just the forest with leaves strewn across the ground. She turned back around, only to hear the strange cracking sound again. "Hello," she shouted, shaking "who's there." There was no reply. "Helen is that you?" she yelled but to no avail.

Then she felt it. Something whacked her on the back, knocking her to the ground and winding her as she landed on the stomach. She twisted round only to see her attacker shooting towards her, wrapping itself around her body. She writhed and struggled against its grip but it was no use. It pulled her with ease towards its ever gaping mouth.

She screamed…

**Chapter 2: Murder in the woodland**

"Where are we going?" Jack asked excitedly "Greece, Turkey, Russia."

"What about Bolivia?" the Doctor joked.

"Where?" Jack asked puzzled.

"Oh it doesn't matter," the Doctor "anyway no we're not going to any country in fact we're not even going anywhere on earth."

"Wait your saying we're going to a different planet!" Jack shouted ecstatic.

"Yep," the Doctor beamed.

Jack jumped in excitement as the TARDIS whirred to life and kept shaking as it shot through the time vortex. Jack gripped onto the hand rails as the Doctor went wild with the TARDIS controls, hitting anything he felt like, at one point making the TARDIS seem as if it was in an earthquake.

Suddenly the TARDIS crashed on the ground of some unknown land. Jack shook with excitement as he zoomed towards the TARDIS door, just to stand frozen in front of it. "Is it safe out there?" Jack stammered.

"Yeah it's fine look," the Doctor smiled, walking towards the door.

He opened it and suddenly started chocking, spluttering and gasping for air as he fell to his knees on the ground of the alien planet. He lay there…still. "Oh no Doctor are you alright?" Jack panicked shaking the Doctor's limp body.

Then the Doctor leapt to his feet as Jack jumped out of his skin. "What the HECK are you playing at!" Jack yelled in anger.

"Oh calm down I was only messing," the Doctor ruffled Jack's hair.

"I though you'd just died," jack shouted.

"No will take more than bits of air to kill me," the Doctor beamed "anyway come on I want to explore this planet I haven't been here for ages."

The Doctor shut the TARDIS door, locked it and, with Jack, started to walk through the woodland of the alien planet. "Where are we then?" Jack asked.

"This, Jack my friend, is the planet Elfin and it's the year 2179," the Doctor exclaimed.

"Whoa," Jack stared in shock "this place is amazing…is it all woodland?"

"There wasn't even any woodland the last time I came," the Doctor stroked his imaginary beard in thought "but that was a very, very long time ago."

"Well it's changed a lot then," Jack said whilst looking around.

"Yep," the Doctor said, skipping up to one of the trees and stroking it.

"Why are you stroking the tree?" Jack laughed.

"I don't, really know to be honest," the Doctor slapped his head making himself look more stupid.

"Oh come on," Jack shouted still laughing.

They ran through the woodland for around 5 minutes but seemed lost in the vast, dense forest. "Any idea where we are Doctor?" Jack asked.

"Nope," the Doctor replied "but they might," he said pointing towards a camp down a small hill to their right.

They ran down the small hill, Jack stumbling over a tree root and falling down. Once in the camp they realised that it had been put inside some sort of small valley as it was in a large, circular, natural dip in the ground.

"Hello!" the Doctor shouted "anyone in."  
>A stern woman burst out of a tent in the middle of a camp and drew a gun from her belt. "Stay where you are!" she shouted loading the gun and aiming it at the Doctor's head.<p>

"Oy there's no need for that!" Jack tried to calm her down.

"You shut up and get back!" she yelled "or you'll be next."

"Right everyone just calm down," the Doctor raised his hands to keep her calm.

The woman lowered the gun but didn't put it away. "Who are you?" she demanded.

"I'm the Doctor and this is my friend Jack," the Doctor replied whilst Jack waved.

"What're you doing here?" the woman asked.

"We're only visiting," Jack answered still slightly scared.

"The real question is what are you doing here?" the Doctor asked intrigued.

"Well I'll only answer that when I feel I can trust you," the woman angrily replied.

"Ok fine be like that," Jack murmured under his breath.

"Watch your tongue or you'll get a bullet," the woman snapped raising her gun.

"Ok calm it lets just introduce our selves. As I said I'm the Doctor and this is my friend Jack," the Doctor started "what's your name then?"

"Helen," the woman replied lowering the gun for a second time "Helen Mirth."

"Right then Helen," the Doctor smiled "why don't you tell us why you're on edge."  
>"What do you mean 'on edge'" Helen angrily shouted.<p>

"Well you stormed at us carrying a fully loaded 'Laser MPG54' pointing it at the head of a 16 year old boy who is about as dangerous as a snail, no offence Jack," the Doctor argued.

"None taken," Jack replied.

"Well how would I know that?" Helen cried.

"Look it is ok just tell me what's up," the Doctor comforted her.

"It's my colleague, Katrina," Helen sobbed "she's gone missing after I sent her out to do a job for me."

"What do you mean gone missing?" Jack questioned.

"Just gone, hasn't been seen since," Helen grieved "I told her to do the job and now because of that she's gone!"

"It's not your fault you know," Jack tried to help.

"Look we can help but you're going to have to trust us," the Doctor sympathised "so why don't you show us where she was last and on the way tell us why you're actually here."

The Doctor, Jack and Helen set off into the thick, dense forest. They checked thoroughly whilst Helen guided them through the woods and explaining why she and her colleagues were here. "You see it's 2179 and the government decided that it might be a good idea, since we have advanced scientific technology, if they sent the top scientists in the UK to fly in a ship to find other planets that humans may be able to sustain life on. So then when we overpopulate our planet, we'll have another planet to start life on," Helen explained.

"Right so one question, you may have advanced technology but a spaceship is way too advanced for your time," the Doctor started "so why do you have one?"

"Well around 9 years ago we were invaded by a robotic species known as the Raganoids," Helen explained "luckily we were saved; U.N.I.T said that two people had managed to get into their ship and shut it down, as well as managing to blow all the Raganoids up and saving the earth. However the government secretly seized the spaceship and claimed it, getting the top notch scientists to perform experiments on it to see if we could fly it and control it. Luckily with the mind reading technology that we'd started developing in 2053, which has come a long way since then, we were able to re wire the ship, which took years, to fly on thought command."

"So how long are you planning on staying here?" the Doctor chatted to Helen whilst they all looked for any sign of Katrina.

"Well this is our last week we've been here for 7 months," Helen smiled.

"7 months away from earth!" Jack gasped.

"It's not so bad it's a nice change of scenery but I do miss earth," Helen explained, thinking of home.

"Are you the leader of this project then?" the Doctor asked.

"Yep," Helen replied, proud of her authority.

"Doctor, Helen," Jack said shaking "you may want to see this."  
>They ran over to the tree where Jack was stood. It was marked with a red number one and had a darker red substance on the bottom. "I think that's…" Jack started.<p>

"Blood," Helen realised.

"There's this too," the Doctor said, picking up a dirty satchel bag on the ground next to the tree.

"Is that…Katrina's," Helen asked daringly.

She took the bag out of the Doctor's hand and found two letter stickers on it. "Look," Helen beckoned them over "K M. Katrina's initials."

"So whatever got her, or killed her, got her here," the Doctor stated the obvious.

Suddenly they heard a rustling sound of leaves and the snapping of twigs and branches. Jack shot round and stared in horror and disbelief. "Doctor," he shivered "do you think that might've killed her?"

"Why what is it…" the Doctor stopped.

There, in front of them, the very large tree was moving, and its trunk started to crack horizontally in a very jagged line, which opened to reveal its hollow inner body. Two holes opened at the top of its trunk which then glowed a darkish yellow colour. Its two largest branches, which were symmetrically at either side of the tree, moved and bent where elbows would be, and the twigs on it curled into what looked like sharp claws…

**Chapter 3: The emperor Ignarok**

The tree creature ripped up its roots which spread for metres. They shortened to what was still quite a long length whilst at the same time, the bottom of the trunk split in two, up to about a third of the way, and rounded off. The remaining branches then softened into what looked like vines and wrapped themselves around the creature. There it was, in all its terror, a tree monster.

It roared at the trio and shot one of its branch arms at them, extending them to the length it needed. They pivoted round and bolted away from the creature, the arm narrowly missing Helen's leg. As they ran the tree creature moved its thick leg forward and slowly started to walk, shaking the ground as it did. This walk quickly increased to a run as it chased after the Doctor, Jack and Helen.

The Doctor pulled out the sonic screwdriver and, still running, pointed it over his back and hit the button, sending a high pitch wave of noise into the vast forest. It however didn't affect the tree creature and it still ran at them as fast as it could, occasionally swiping at them with its arms.

They then came to a row of brambles with huge, sharp thorns, long enough to pierce a persons heart. This caused them to stop in there path, the creature right behind them. They turned to face it as it opened its huge mouth, the jagged edges of tough, sharp bark obviously being its teeth.

It roared at them, as it did the vines around it unravelled and arced round, pointing straight at them and shaking as the creature roared. They all shot out, one straight after the other, the trio struggling to dodge them as there sharp tips rammed into the brambles and ground.

"Can't you do something!" Jack yelled at the Doctor, trying to avoid the onslaught of vines attacking them.

"No I've tried the sonic isn't affecting it at all," the Doctor panicked.

"Well," Jack stepped forward bravely "let's try laser."

He whipped the sonic/laser pen out of his pocket and hit the button for the laser. A red laser shot out of the nib of the pen, striking the tree creature just above the gaping mouth. It roared in fury and suddenly its toe like roots extended and dug into the ground with ease, the tree creature being pulled down by them as they buried deeper and deeper. The vines wrapped themselves back around the trunk and the tree fully buried itself in the ground.

They could here the sound of it moving away from them. "What was THAT thing!" Jack yelled in shock "I've seen a bat like killer in Mexico and warrior aliens drilling into earth and I thought they took the biscuit but a killer tree has just stolen the whole barrel."

"That was an Ignarok," the Doctor stated "but why did it attack us?"

"I don't know," Jack bellowed still in shock.

"We need to get back to the camp," Helen ordered "we'll be safer there. Then we can work out how to kill that Ignarok thing."

"NO!" the Doctor shouted "no killing. We do need to get back to the camp well you need to get back to the camp, me and Jack need to find something."  
>"What would that be?" Jack asked sarcastically realising he didn't have a choice.<p>

"The Emperor Ignarok," the Doctor answered.

"What's that?" Helen asked.

"Well the Ignarok start out as seeds floating through space after being dispersed. They float through space until gravity of a planet pulls them in and the land on the ground, germinating there," the Doctor explained.

"So they are plants?" Jack asked

"Well not exactly they're plant life forms that are capable of moving and respiration as well as photosynthesis. That what attacked us was an Ignarok. When it's in the form we found it it's basically a tree as it then can't move and has all the characteristics of a tree," the Doctor explained in detail.

"But why turn into a tree?" Jack replied.

"Defence," the Doctor answered "disguise, hibernation etc. They also use it to sleep to allow them to absorb minerals efficiently."

"Look we need to go," Helen exclaimed.

They listened to her and together they all set off, following Helen who knew her way through the huge forest, back to the camp. They were lucky to have Helen with them as the Doctor and Jack almost took a few wrong turns.

They reached the camp but the Doctor and Jack left straight away, the Doctor and Jack both using their sonic devices to check for anything alien. They bleeped quicker and quicker as they got closer to what they were looking for.

"What exactly are we looking for?" Jack asked confused.

"Well the Emperor Ignarok is basically a huge tree and will probably be the biggest in the forest," the Doctor said.

"But if there's two Ignarok surely there's more," Jack questioned.

"Oh there is," the Doctor exclaimed "I think this whole forest is actually made of Ignarok's that haven't awoken yet."

"Great a forest made of killer trees oh world you are too kind," Jack sarcastically replied.

Suddenly the sonic devices bleeped furiously. "I think we've found it," the Doctor said looking at the largest tree he'd ever seen, its vines on guard and its eyes wide open, staring at the Doctor and Jack.

"Doctor," the emperor said breathily "I'm glad you've come."  
>"Why is your race attacking the humans?" the Doctor asked interested.<p>

"It's more of a question of why are the humans attacking us?" the emperor replied peacefully.

"What do you mean?" Jack asked.

"We were at peace and happily sleeping you could say, absorbing the minerals from the ground we needed. But then after so long the humans arrived and started tampering with the ground and the environment, conducting experiments. This disturbed me and I awoke my fellow Ignarok so we could defend ourselves by eating our second food supply," the emperor explained the reality of the situation.

"What do you mean 'second food supply'?" Jack demanded to know.

"It means the humans," the Doctor realised "because the Ignarok aren't just plant creatures who absorb minerals from the ground, herbivores you could say. They're omnivores. They also eat meat, rarely, but they do if it's necessary."

"So as a form of defence the Ignarok eat their attackers?" Jack asked trying to understand it all.

"Pretty much," the Doctor answered "and the rest of them are awaking," he finished when he heard the cracking of lots of branches behind him.

"We need to go!" Jack shouted in panic.

They turned and ran from the emperor Ignarok, the rest of the Ignarok awakening behind them, following them. Realising this they ran faster, using the sonic screwdriver to guide them back to the camp (because the Ignarok that weren't awake yet so didn't class as aliens so when the screwdriver bleeped less, they knew they were going the right way).

After about 10 minutes of running through the now alive forest the Doctor and Jack arrived at the camp, only to see the Ignarok awaking and surrounding the camp…

**Chapter 4: Forest fire**

They ran into the centre of the camp where they met Helen again. She was holding her gun up at the trees, pivoting every few seconds to keep an eye on them all.

"THERE EVERYWHERE!" she yelled in terror "THEY JUST STARTED MOVING TO ATTACK US ALL!"

"It's your project!" the Doctor shouted "it's disturbed the Ignarok and now they're fighting back to protect themselves!"  
>Jack pulled out his soniclaser pen to arm himself, but it was difficult to see with only the moonlight above them.

A flurry of vines shot towards them, one wrapping round one of the male scientists. It pulled the helpless man towards the Ignarok's gaping mouth and engulfed him whole. The last thing that was heard from him was a loud scream of pain.

Suddenly the ground shook and an Ignarok burst out of it, its vines unravelling and shaking as the Ignarok roared at them. It stomped towards the Doctor and Jack the red number 1 showing up in the light.

"That's the Ignarok from before!" Jack shouted over the roars and screams.

"Back off!" the Doctor ordered as its vines lashed out at them. However Jack wasn't quick enough and one of the vines wrapped around his ankle and raised him up from the ground. He struggled against its pull, whipping the sonic/laser pen out to shoot the Ignarok, but he unfortunately dropped it.

"DOCTOR!" Jack yelled in a last ditch attempt of survival.

Luckily they heard him and Helen shot a laser bolt at the Ignarok. It shrieked in pain and dropped Jack. He scrambled to grab the sonic/laser pen and jumped up once he had, turning to face the Ignarok.

"How do we stop them?" Jack panicked "if we don't they'll eat us all."

"There's a whole forest of them!" Helen shouted "we can't."

"Unless…" Jack realised "we start a forest fire!"

"What?" Helen asked.

"Of course," the Doctor picked up on Jack's plan "burn the whole forest it'll kill them all."

"But I thought you said killing was wrong!" Jack questioned.

"It is," the Doctor said darkly "but there's no other choice."

"We can use the ship!" Helen pitched in.

"BRILLIANT!" the Doctor yelled in agreement.

They followed Helen at running speed, not realising that the Ignarok had buried itself underground and was following them. They quickly ran out of breath but soldiered on oblivious to the sound underground following them.

They arrived at the ship. The Doctor and Jack stood in amazement at it. The ship was quite flat but very wide, a shiny silver colour. Laser cannons were mounted on the front, just below the cockpit. It wasn't a circular shape but more of a wide arrow shape where at the back in caved in.

They ran up to it and Helen unlocked the door. It swung open downwards and they ran inside, Helen locking the door behind her. Jack wondered round the ship in awe, its vast size took his breath away. It wasn't as big as the Laxons ship but had some what looked like stasis chambers that Jack guessed is where the Raganoids would've stayed to save room.

The cockpit was huge and could fit three people or robots in the Raganoids case. They took their seats, the Doctor in the pilot seat.

"Doctor why are you in the pilot seat?" Helen asked quite insulted.

"Because I can fly ships I don't need it to read my mind" the Doctor argued.

Suddenly the Ignarok burst up from the ground its vines unravelling and wrapping around the ship, some of them whipping out at it, trying to attack the Doctor, Jack and Helen.

"IT FOLLOWED US!" Helen shouted in shock, pulling out her laser gun.

The Ignarok roared as more vines snaked around the ship. Three of them shot at the ship, smashing through the cockpit window and trying to lift them from their seats, at one point trying to strangle them, this failed however as Helen shot the Ignarok.

The Doctor started the ship up, making it hover above the ground and pulling against the Ignarok's vines.

"Even if we escape from this Ignarok how are we going to set the whole forest on fire!" Jack shouted over the roaring Ignarok.

"Easy," the Doctor smiled struggling to pull away from the Ignarok's grip "the emperor. It controls the whole forest of the Ignarok if we set it alight then the whole forest will burn with it."

The Doctor found the right button and fired two huge laser bolts from the cannons on the front. They directly hit the Ignarok, causing it to stumble and lose its grip as its vines unravelled around the ship and formed a barrier to protect the Ignarok.

They flew off at high speed before the Ignarok could lash out again. They were flying above the whole forest, watching as the trees battled with the humans who were closer to defeat, barely able to hold the army of Ignarok off.

Finally they saw the Emperor Ignarok, still stationary where it was before. However it glowed an intense yellow colour, using its energy to help its fellow Ignarok, to protect them. It must've noticed them because one of its vines shot up at them, taking Jack by surprise as it wrapped around him, and pulling him out of the ship and throwing him on the ground.

Jack clutched his leg in pain as he stood up, turning to face the Ignarok emperor. It laughed at his efforts, lashing at him again with a vine. This one whipped his bad leg creating a searing pain. It then came back around and at Jack again, this one striking him in the stomach, sending him flying and onto the dirty ground once more.

Meanwhile back up in the ship, the Doctor locked onto the Emperor Ignarok, firing a blast of laser. It however missed and the emperor struck out at the ship, its vines breaking through numerous parts of the ship and trying to drag it down.

More then followed, breaking through even more parts and trying to kill the Doctor and Helen. Helen was defending them, firing her laser gun at any vine she saw. Luckily the Doctor's next shot was more successful.

It hit the Ignarok emperor directly on its head. It screamed out in pain as it suddenly burst into flames, the blaze quickly spreading around it and through the whole forest, setting all the Ignarok alight.

Jack was unlucky. Him being on the ground meant that he was now watching as his surroundings were being engulfed in flames. He screamed for the Doctor but he was high in the sky and couldn't hear him. He was doomed. But he endeavoured and limped through the burning forest, trying to find his way back to the camp where he might be safe.

But the inferno was too much and was now blocking his path. He sat on the ground and sank his head into his knees just waiting for the end to come…

"Doctor!" Helen shouted "we need to save Jack."

"I know but we can't get too close in this it'll burn up and then you can't return to earth," the Doctor cried.

"Then what can we do for him?" Helen argued.

Back on the ground 5 minutes had passed and Jack cried, feeling the tears rolling down his face. This isn't how he'd pictured his death. _'Why hasn't the Doctor come?' _he thought. Then suddenly he heard a whirring noise next to him.

He shot up, not bothering to check his wounded leg. He was right. The TARDIS was materialising in front of him and then, like a miracle, out ran the Doctor, grabbing Jack's wrist and dragging him into the TARDIS, quickly materialising before the TARDIS set ablaze.

They arrived back in the camp where the fire was starting to die down thanks to the large water supply on the ship. The camp members ran up to the Doctor and Jack, shaking their hands and saying there thank you's.

Helen walked up to them. "What are you going to do now?" Helen asked curiously.

"Oh just travel a bit more," the Doctor replied "you were brilliant you know. You could come with us if you want."

"Is it always like this?" Helen asked considering the offer.

"Yep," Jack chirped in "pretty much."

"Then no," Helen replied.

"Why not?" Jack asked.

"It's just that this is my project and my team. They need me. Besides I couldn't do this every day," she laughed.

"Well," the Doctor said "this is goodbye then."

Helen sighed. "Well," she smiled "goodbye Doctor, and you Jack it's been great meeting you."

"The pleasure's ours," the Doctor beamed.

They walked into the TARDIS and up to the controls, shutting the door behind them.

"I hope the project goes well for her," Jack smiled happily.

"Oh it will!" the Doctor said, messing with the TARDIS controls.

"How do you know?" Jack asked suspicious.

"Helen Mirth," the Doctor stated "the first scientist to ever discover other planets where humans could sustain life after 3 long years away from earth. Born 2137 and died 2202 at the age of 67 from an alien disease called Tripotin. It infects your lungs and fills the alveoli with mucus, so much so that they then bust. One by one they bust and there's no cure so after a year or two you die. Helen Mirth being the most famous scientist of the 22nd and 23rd century was kept on a life support machine that kept her alive for an extra 18 years. She sadly passed away though."

"So we just met a famous scientist!" Jack yelled.

"Yep of the future anyway," the Doctor finished.

"Anyway where to next?" Jack asked.

"I know," the Doctor replied and pulled the TARDIS materialisation lever.

**Next time**

The Doctor and Jack travel to the national history museum in the present day where they meet Amy Pond and Rory. However people have been disappearing in the museum and one of the Doctor's old foes is lurking, hiding and waiting…

**Author's notes**

Yes third one done. Hope you liked it please R&R. By the way in terms of my last story just to solve some complaints, I know the historical aspects were wrong they were supposed to be as the story arc of the series is that time is changing. Therefore historical aspects are meant to be out of place. I appreciate the comments anyway glad people take the time to review my rubbish writing want to help me improve.


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